No day of rest under capitalism – push to extend Belfast shop opening hours

Belfast City Council is continuing to pursue its aim of ceaseless consumerism by extending shop opening hours within its area of influence. The move began last year in July 2025, when a majority of councillors (32 to 21) backed holding a public consultation on the proposed scheme. That consultation has now arrived with the council seeking:

…feedback from residents, visitors and business representatives on extending Sunday trading hours across the city during periods of high tourist and visitor numbers.

The North of Ireland has the most restrictive Sunday opening hours rules across Britain and Ireland, with shops over 280 square metres only permitted to open from 13:00 to 18:00. There are some exceptions, such as shops at transport hubs like railways and airports, or areas designated ‘holiday resorts’. England and Wales permit large shops to open for six hours, usually from 10:00 to 16:00, or 11:00 to 17:00. In the Republic of Ireland, no restrictions apply.

The new law will seek to designate the Belfast City Council area as a holiday resort, and allow large shops to:

…open at any time on up to 18 Sundays between 1 March and 30 September each year (excluding Easter Sunday).

Belfast and the neoliberal agenda

Sinn Féin councillor Natasha Brennan, whose party u-turned to back the proposed change, said the plan would:

…extend and enhance Belfast’s retail and hospitality experience on Sunday mornings to benefit residents, businesses and the increasing numbers of visitors to our city.

She also harped on about the need to “compete with other cities”, “boost visitor and tourism spending” and enable “additional trading opportunities for retailers.” Essentially a series of market-centric rather than human-centric arguments. The latter were provided in the earlier July 2025 debate around the plan, which was opposed by the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), the Green Party, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and People Before Profit (PBP).

Séamas de Faoite of the SDLP said:

It is ironic we are being told this is what the people of Belfast want, when in fact the trade unions who represent the store workers of Belfast have made it very clear they don’t want it, and Retail NI who represent the small businesses of Belfast have made it very clear they don’t want it.

And we’ve had feedback from arts and community organisations to say they want to be involved in an animation programme that holds up the work they are doing in the city, that isn’t distracted by the opening of large retail.

He added:

Countless European cities operate on a model of having Sunday reserved for something different – for family time, for free time, for time when people can enjoy culture and the arts, where people who have a faith can have an opportunity to practice that faith. Why is it that Belfast continuously has this discussion?

Germany’s “shopping hell” – the way to go

The plan even managed to turn the DUP into budding Marxists, with Alderman Dean McCullough saying:

What can you say to the Alliance Party and Sinn Féin, who make even myself look left wing on this. I am a capitalist, because I have common sense, but I have a social conscience, and that means I want workers to have a day off on a Sunday. They work hard and tirelessly throughout the week, and throughout the year. They deserve a break.

The Canary can non-exclusively report that McCullough does in fact not typically possess common sense, but on this issue he is correct.

Meanwhile, Germany is the sort of European example de Faoite was alluding to. Described as “shopping hell” by TIME magazine, Germany forbids virtually all shops from opening on Sunday, under its catchily titled Ladenschlussgesetz law. Given Time magazine represents neoliberal hell, we’ll take their view as a ringing endorsement of the policy.

It was brought in during 1956 under the initiative of trade unions who argued Sunday should be used to give workers a break from ceaseless grind. A majority of Germans are still in favour of the law, which enables people to engage in more civilised pursuits like resting, leisure, and spending time with friends and family.

As mentioned by de Faoite, trade unions in the Six Counties (a decolonial term for the north of Ireland) still don’t want an extension of their potential working hours. The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW) said:

USDAW opposes this. Members have told us that they already feel pressure to work on a Sunday, and that increasing trading hours will add to this. As well as retail workers themselves having concerns, smaller retailers have stated that they worry their trade will be taken by the bigger stores which could have a longer term detrimental impact.

Indeed, as it’s a lot harder for a family owned shop run by a couple to keep running seven days a week than it is for Tesco.

You don’t have to be religious to oppose Sunday opening hours. You just have to reject the inhumane demand of capitalist logic – that of being forced into an endless rat race only billionaires can win.

Featured image via the Canary